Cellular communications systems typically provide interconnect and/or dispatch voice communication services. Interconnect voice communication services are those typically provided by most cellular carriers as circuit-switched communications. Dispatch communication services are commonly known as a “walkie-talkie” type of call, such as provided by Sprint Nextel Corporation and identified by the trade name Direct Connect. The popularity of dispatch calls is ever expanding and this increase in popularity has created a demand for more features to be associated with these types of calls.
One feature that would be desirable to provide is presence information. Presence information identifies the status of a dispatch station, such as whether the dispatch station is registered with the network. Due to limitations of some dispatch networks, presence information cannot be easily provided. For example, the iDEN network, such as that owned and operated by Sprint Nextel Corporation, does not currently provide presence information.